5 players to watch during CDL 2021 Stage 3 Paris Home Series Dexerto \/ Call of Duty LeagueNo Call of Duty League roster or ranking is safe in 2021 and the pressure is mounting. For better or worse, five players have something to prove during the CDL\u2019s Stage 3: Paris Home Series. Last week, four of the five pros to watch were making midseason debuts and the fourth was cementing his level of play. The latter, Ben \u2018Bance\u2019 Bance, proved the Stage 2 Major was no fluke \u2014 posting a 1.13 K\/D (kill-death ratio) in a 2-0 week for his Toronto Ultra. Meanwhile, of the four debuts, only one managed to notch a winning record a positive K\/D on the week: Martin \u2018Cheen\u2019 Chino (with a nasty 1.36). But this week\u2019s must-watch list doesn\u2019t have any first-time starters. Instead, three are vets hoping to regain their footing and two are CDL rookies still getting their feet wet. With the Stage 3 Major looming, rosters constantly changing, and Cuyler \u2018Huke\u2019 Garland somehow on the trade block \u2014 these five players should be especially hungry to produce. Alec \u2018Arcitys\u2019 Sanderson (Atlanta FaZe) For a while there, it didn\u2019t look like FaZe could be touched. But taught us that even gods (technically, god-kings) can bleed and now Atlanta has lost consecutive matches after starting the year 14-1. FaZe won\u2019t be making any changes and Arcitys\u2019 role is safe, but the team won\u2019t secure a No. 1 seed without their Main AR turning things up a gear. Last week, FaZe lost to the New York Subliners 2-3 with Arcitys posting a game-low 0.84 K\/D. The match prior, against Toronto in the Stage 2 Major, he dropped a game-low 0.71. Championship favorites aren\u2019t built on Main ARs who get out-slayed by 28-year-olds and rookies. If FaZe are going to regain everyone\u2019s faith, Arcitys needs to shoot straighter in this week\u2019s matchups with the LA Thieves and London Royal Ravens. Tyler \u2018FeLo\u2019 Johnson (Dallas Empire) To start the London Home Series, Dallas beat the Paris Legion 3-1 and Huke dropped a 1.05 K\/D. Then, they benched Huke for FeLo and proceeded to get swept by the Ultra (their second 0-3 all season). And how did the veteran player, CDL rookie fare in Huke\u2019s stead? A game-low 0.82 K\/D. No one knows what is happening in the Empire camp, but FeLo is replacing a highly touted player who was an early MVP candidate this season. The LA Guerrillas should be an easier test this week, but all eyes will be on the new(ish) starter trying to fill nuke-sized shoes. Paco \u2018HyDra\u2019 Rusiewiez (New York Subliners) After what felt like an eternity of murmurings, CDL 2021\u2019s most highly anticipated rookie finally made his debut. And HyDra did not disappoint, as the mustachioed menace dropped a 1.09 K\/D in a win against FaZe and the Tiny Terrors duo. Read more: Can OpTic Chicago finally win championships? – If expectations were high before, they\u2019ve only gotten higher. HyDra outdueled the league\u2019s most notorious SMG duo and now gets to face two teams with less notoriety at the position. Stepping into the kitchen with London and Seattle this week, New York\u2019s 19-year-old might fry. Thomas \u2018TJHaLy\u2019 Haly (LA Thieves) They came in with a star-studded roster and won matches. Then the losses started piling up and they replaced two of those stars with unproven talents. Now, the Thieves seem to be bouncing back again \u2014 but pressure remains high. LA went 2-0 last week, which is great, but those wins came against Seattle and London. And, even against those not-so-great opponents, TJHaLy posted team-low K\/Ds (0.85 and 0.94, respectively). This week, the Thieves meet tougher foes: FaZe and OpTic Chicago. Should TJ continue struggling and the Thieves go back to losing, fans may begin calling for a Huke acquisition. It\u2019s not likely that LA move away from Teej \u2014 then again, it didn\u2019t feel likely that they\u2019d replace Austin \u2018SlasheR\u2019 Liddicoat either. Daniel \u2018Loony\u2019 Loza (Seattle Surge) The Surge only have four wins this season and, considering their roster, that\u2019s pretty surprising. But at this point, if Seattle wants to fight for Stage Majors or even a spot at CDL Champs, something has to change. And the elephant in the room, the topic no one wants to touch, is Loony. Reputable and beloved for his game sense, Loony\u2019s struggles nonetheless can\u2019t be ignored. Just last week, the vet SMG couldn\u2019t surpass a team-low 0.73 K\/D in of the Surge\u2019s losses. Loony and Seattle face another tough test this week against New York. If it\u2019s another disappointing performance, Mike \u2018Hastr0\u2019 Rufail\u2019s phone might start ringing regarding a Huke acquisition. All stats courtesy of BreakingPoint. If you want to keep track of CDL 2021\u2019s Stage 3, Week 2, follow along with our dedicated hub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
5 players to watch during CDL 2021 Stage 3 Paris Home Series Dexerto \/ Call of Duty LeagueNo Call of Duty League roster or ranking is safe in 2021 and the pressure is mounting. For better or worse, five players have something to prove during the CDL\u2019s Stage 3: Paris Home Series. Last week, four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}